uneven bars developments (50s to 2005)

[@WarriorCatWorld]

What I loved about early uneven bars was how you could create your own moves virtually at any point, along with original mounts and dismounts. Nowadays, everybody does the same skills and it's just not exciting anymore.

[@jessicastone6682]

It would be great to see some of these beautiful mounts and dismounts return. If only the judges new how to execute the correct level of difficulty for scoring.

[@Allhoney33]

I used to wonder why this particular type of gymnastics is referred to as artistic and the one where they are twirling different objects etc was called rhythmic. Well now I know, thanks to the footage of earlier gymnastics. I totally see the art in the older form vs now. It looks so much more graceful from the 50s through the 80s. And the whirling/whips were beautiful. I'm a big gymnastics junkie but after seeing this, I think I like the older stuff better but can still appreciate modern gymnastics.

[@Allhoney33]

I couldn't agree more. They really shouldn't even call it artistic gymnastics anymore.

[@mckenziedavis3999]

+Lizzie Beth they should just call it gymnastics not artistic gymnastics bc I don't see anymore artistic stuff anymore

[@Swankdor]

love the music that you have chosen for this montage.. Make it sounds so classy...

[@euphemiaknw7696]

Agreed

[@lightningandrainbows7315]

This is a cool video, but I have to say, the earlier performances were more interesting. Having the second bar where they could bounce off of it and twist around and stuff was more interesting. Now, they might as well just have one bar and swing around it a few times. Admittedly, the thing where they hit it with their hips so hard does look painful and dangerous. Not really into that if it is.

[@Jonas6032]

I think around 1976 was perfect. Nowadays, ALL routines are basically exactly the same. No creativity at all or signature moves.

[@kais4268]

yeah, most routines look the same nowadays. belly beats were not at all dangerous. if you hit the bar right, it was painless.

[@papillon5839]

Not at all dangerous? Are you serious? You should learn a few things about the woman's body. There's a reason why this element was banned

[@kais4268]

well, almost everything you do in gymnastics is dangerous. but dangerous as in damage to internal organs? no, belly beats and wraps didn't do that. if you hit the bar right, it didn't hurt. obviously, the bars had to be set at exact specifications at all times because if you hit the bar too high, you bruise your hipbones. and if you hit the bar too low, you hit with your thighs and not only bruised but lost momentum to swing back up. my coach was an elite gymnast and she explained it to me because I was curious about bars back in the day. then she let me try in practice and there was no pain (i tried it without the foam once i got the hang of it and it was fun). also, belly beats are not banned. they never were. they were phased out as the bars got set further apart. they're just impossible now. maybe you should learn a few things about gymnastics.

[@peanutandoreobasset1859]

Kai S I was a gymnast in the late 70’s. I agree with you. If the bars were set at the proper distance for you and you did it right, it didn’t hurt at all.

[@Haru2609]

I, for one, am glad they spread the bars apart. It made sense back then when the sport was more about strength and balance, the movements were a lot slower. Then it got faster and bouncing the hip constantly against the bar just looked painfull (and it was, indeed, harmful) to the athletes.

[@pamelam4]

I agree! I liked how the uneven bars were closer, there was so many interesting moves they could do because of it that they can't do now.

[@fancyshawl11]

Thanks for putting together this footage. As a former gymnast, my hero was Mary Lou Retton and was sad to see her signature move not in the video. But some of the cool intricacies of the 80's I think need to make a comeback. They were awesome, and putting them together with the power and height of today's girls, you could have interesting bar routines again.

[@avocate201]

It's fascinating to see the evolution of the uneven bars over the the past 50-60 years. Not only has the apparatus itself evolved (in the old days, the bars were just men's parallel bars set at different heights), but the routines have gotten more fluid and acrobatic. I remember reading about gymnasts of the '50s and '60s when I was a kid, but there was no Internet back then, so I was never able to just look up videos of their routines. There was a beauty in the simplicity of their routines.

[@1Timoteo41]

i think most of the gymnast want a high score value nowadays and that is why they are not focusing in the artistry anymore and just in difficulty. The judges demand more now than they used in the past. wnat they should do is to allow the gymnast to stay more time in the apparatus to perform longer routins that include the beautiful artistry and they should give them credit for that too.

[@sophiaasta9197]

they should have a set of bars like the ones now and a set like the ones then.

[@sabrinaluvzya]

i like the 80's, its a mix of athletic and the gracefulness.

[@HowDareThey1970]

I really miss the bars so close together, was much more intricate and interesting to watch. I agree they should reintroduce it as an additional event.

[@nothersheep]

What a fantastic montage! Thank you for this. So well edited, and so illuminating. Great, GREAT work.

[@cookieaddictions]

What I like about the bars of the 70s is how quick the routines go- it's superhuman. Wit them farther apart, a lot of time is taken up by swinging. I also really like how they would swing from high bar, catch onto the the low by their stomach and then flip under and dismount. So exciting!

[@tengwarsoup8836]

In the 50's, it is completely a different event than today. It's amazing how far it's evolved! In the 50's, I liked some of the wrapping twisting moves and how the moves were really suited to the closer together bars. However, around the 70's, it seems to be a competition of "How much can you do without smacking painfully into a bar?" rather than just asking the open-ended question: "How much can you do?"

[@klbtree]

It's fascinating to see the progression of the sport. Thanks for posting this!

[@airliberte]

Excellent job for the montage! i don't know how you did that, but it's a masterpiece!

[@lizza66]

Wow. A tribute not just to the the uneven bars, but also to human creativity and the possibilities of the human body! Thanks for sharing some awesome footage!

[@NYCBlonde]

Fantastic montage--thanks for taking the time to put it together, fascinating!

[@CandiedMadness]

Can we talk about 1:05 though? LOL. It looks like so much fun. It's like a whimsical spinning thing.

[@kaceywaceyy]

Lol true

[@Allhoney33]

That's the great Vera Caslavka!

[@DizzyedUpGirl]

Hell yeah, she should have just done that for 87 seconds and then dismounted.

[@lepetitpoulet]

whoever made this, you're amazing!

[@withlove312]

Agreed. It makes the routines less interesting to watch and forces them to be the same instead of allowing for more impressive and original artistic moves. I mean, most of these moves are probably banned. Now it's all about release elements, handstands and turns. Kind of boring. 70s-90s is where you see the superb artistry combined with difficult skills on all 4 events. UB has changed the most though. I actually think the new scoring system makes sense.

[@LaureShang32]

Great montage. It is interesting to see how things change so dramatically over these years.

[@pageantgaga]

I love watching this. The olympic level routines of the 1950's seem like beginner routines today. I've tell my daughter this all the time.

[@CalvinKrause]

When and why did they change the width between the bars?

[@ellie99gymnast]

To make it harder I'm assuming

[@carolhutchinson7763]

Around the late 80s I think. I read that it was to allow for giant swings but also there was concern about the hip bouncing (bruises, possible kidney damage).

[@CalvinKrause]

+Carol Hutchinson thanks!

[@Be3tBe3t]

This was so fun to watch. I'm one of those who thought it much more fun in the days when the bars were closer together - more inventive moves. The old footage was amazing - I loved 1) women doing gymnastics with big ol' buns on their heads, and 2) the fact that there were spotters there when the girls were barely doing swings. Thanks for posting it!

[@arcurlyq]

That is really cool! It was interesting to see the progression/evolution of the release moves. When you see it all together like that, you can see how the moves evolved. I really like some of the more original moves in the 50s-70s. Wish we had more of those now because they make the whole routine look more elegant and interesting.

[@maddieslifeisboring9532]

What's that release move called when there just swinging straight body and catch the low bar it was performed in the 70s and on p please help

[@kealabeam]

Wow, cool stuff! The stuff in the 50's was a trip...amazing to see the progress.

[@frugalfruit3792]

very well done making this video! interesting the evolution, and the routines fit to the beat and notes of the music :D

[@SereenaStellar]

the stuff they did in the 50's-70's was way more impressive than what they do now

[@comaneci1]

I already done some of the balance beam a year ago, but never had the chance to complete it... I'll try to finish it soon.. and thanks for your comment

[@mrparke007]

Wow... no Khorkina. Thank you! I like how you showed the guts it took for Nadia to do the release moves and dismount that she did. She was WAY ahead of her time. To dismount from the high bar like that was so, so risky back then. She had moxy!

[@TheGymnastic101]

i know but if they decided to bring that back it would suck because they banned most of those moves

[@Golddusttwin1]

Wow that was really impressive! Cool to see where everything has come from. I use to wonder how they competed with so little room between the bars but it literally looked like they were twirling. Looks like they had so much finesse to just be able to keep going. It seems today it's more about power I guess. Both are great though. Awesome video!

[@995835]

You can make really Good montages. Your montages are really beautiful

[@bragg]

Fantastic montage. Thanks for putting it together.

[@avocate201]

But gymnastics has never been about "faster and stronger." It's inherently different from "speed" sports like running or swimming. Gymnastics is more like figure skating and diving, where both technique AND form/artistry matter. The gymnasts of previous eras were just as strong as the gymnasts of today, if not stronger. If anything, they're the ones who had to do amazing routines on harsher equipment (wooden beams with no padding, harder mats for floor exercises, etc.).

[@offbrand_2863]

this is so much harder than what we have to do now

[@califanatic]

Its great to see the changes in bars, great vid!

[@1Timoteo41]

thank you for the video

[@avocate201]

In the old days, when the bars were closer together, they had to carefully adjust the bar settings for each gymnast so that the gymnast wouldn't bruise her hip bone when doing those wraps around the lower bar. Plus, the girls were starting to do more giant swings and bigger release moves, which required the bars to be farther apart. That's why the distance between the bars became widened.

[@brianmerritt5410]

Nadia Comaneci and Olga Korbut--I'm a huge fan.

[@janewang1533]

It just looks like the bars got farther and farther apart!

[@GalitAviva]

Great vid! It's nice to see the evolution of the uneven bars. You never see these types of routines all in one place.

[@maghgh]

The turning points: Nadia and Olga Korbut.

[@Allhoney33]

Actually the turning point was Doris Fuchs Brause......she never got the credit she deserved! Nobody was doing what she did on the uneven bars at the time and after that, it became the standard! Look up her UB routine!

[@gopher3737]

I didn't know that the bars were closer together in the past, allowing for transfer between the 2 bars to be much easier and more fluid. Seems like the routines were more artistic in the past, but now the athleticism is insane. It resembles the mens high bar routines with all the high flying tricks that are done now. The lower bar doesn't seem to be used as much. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing - I guess it depends on whether you like artistic or athletic style routines

[@undermoonstars]

Can you still do this move today? at 5:28 And what's it called?

[@bsnow3386]

This is great. I was wondering when it made such a big change, but this video shows it's ALWAYS made big changes. :)

[@SereenaStellar]

im not saying what they do today isn't difficult because it is i'm just saying the older gymnastics looks more graceful.

[@kayessgee5]

wow, its amazing how much it changed! great vid!

[@MlleClaBru]

Great montage ! It's very beautiful !

[@cindyirene2001]

LOL! I was just about to mention how Queen Khorkina was not included in a montage about bars especially; but you already brought up my point perfectly. :)

[@123nickiv]

That's because the high bar and low bar were sooo close to eachother. Now they can do soo many more dificult skills without distributing their weight on two different areas like holding the high bar at the same time as your waist is dangling on the low bar. but it was origionally men's parallel bars positioned at different heights. Now the standard bars allows for much more difficult skills, but not as smooth as before.

[@Theaterfreak]

I myself am a gymnast and we had a "rustic day" at our club once. One of the Parallel bars was raised up to the height of the high bar so we had a set of not-so-Asymmetric Bars to work on and it was easy comapred to the bars I usually use. It may be boring, but yoiu think what we gymnasts have to do on those bars, however close or paralell they are.

[@semeseriasu]

you just made my youtube watching time much batter with your movie, its was absolutely impressive.thank you

[@cj222100]

I love watching the older routines. It seemed like w/ the bars closer together it made them have to be more creative in order to outdo one another. I'm not a gymnast so I don't know what is really considered harder, but what does Nastia Liukien do that's supposedly so much harder than what some of these girls were doing?

[@cj222100]

Wow, bar routines back in the day were so different, it almost seems like an entirely different event altogether. Some of those mounts they were doing were so cool. And when they were doing the swinging around by their midsections w/no hands. But when they were doing it thay way, did they adjust the bars depending on the height of the girl? Wonder what's considered more difficult-the old routines or the more recent routines. Looked like it was somewhere in the 80s when the bars changed

[@lanpingpug]

Which move was it that caused the most injuries back then on bars? Was it the one where they hit the bar with their stomach? Or those big releases like the one Olga Korbutt did first when she stood on the top bar and then somersaulted to catch?

[@RealKungFu]

Holy shit! What the hell just happened at 5:29???

[@laurad324]

I know that’s the coolest move

[@LithiumxLacrymosa]

I love this. The old routines look so good - I wish we could still see that on tv :(

[@jeabooks7471]

Not really I started to watch modern gymnastics first. Then I really started to enjoy it and looked into it more. I discovered the older routines, ones from the 60s or so, and fell in love with the oldies :) Now I like 60s 70s gymnastics as a whole, more than modern gymnastics.

[@taminator664]

Much agreed! Gymnastics has become practically robotic these days.

[@laurad324]

It’s all the same. 70s-80s best.

[@arnas88]

@jenniffir it´s not weird because they had to start somewhere. it wasnt until 1972 that olga korbut changed gymnastics by combining tricks together and doing stuff that had never been seen before. in beginning gymnastics used to be similar to ballet and they also had more mature women until olga and then nadia.

[@SLPtoMD]

I think one of the main differences between the old routines and new ones is the new ones require the gymnasts to be in so much better shape, strength and endurance is a must, the old ones were very intricate and I'm guessing timing was very important, which it still is today, but you kind of have a break while you're in the middle of a giant, or kip to handstand, whereas the old routines it was one quick move after another, so that could be frightening. It's much more dangerous now though

[@hunt1967]

It was great to see some of my favorite moves in this montage. They don't do a lot of this stuff anymore.

[@comaneci1]

The music is Little earthquakes by Tori Amos

[@127138kj]

I like the 70s to 90s the best. Some of these mounts and dismounts were crazy haha. Does anyone know why the bars are farther apart now? And were most of the older skills banned? Because now its more about pirouetting and swinging than constant transitions from the low to high bar as it uses to be...

[@2cdmitchell]

Yes! The focus used to be the hip distance to the bars but as the tricks became more demanding that the bars have much mire room leaving those cool tricks behind. I was just 7 when Nadia inspired me to learn her first Olympic 10- and I did for a while . But by the time I was competing 6 years later- our bats were set for more Ariel moves and not just a "front hip circle to an Eagles nest" lol- at 7- was considered advanced!! This was an awesome look at the transitions- I have to ask why Mary Lo

[@duchessofpercy]

SO True! Uneven bars has practically become high bar for girls. I miss the old days. look how close the bars are together in the early years as compared to now.

[@dulciecanham9683]

I love the way that in the 50s and 60s that almost danced on the bars. Love it

[@pianocidal]

Wow. Thank you for the exquisite montage. The uneven parallel bars are my absolute favorite. I keep thinking to myself, '''What can gymnasts do to 'up the ante' (i.e. do something that has never been done before) I guess we'll find out....! Peace&Love Pianocidal

[@Stonymypony]

I love this video. Its so weird to see some of the earlier gymnastics. It looks so simple but I guess back then it was a big deal like the gymnastics today is.

[@ralucagymnast]

Yes, she was great, and only 11 years old in this video! Heres some information about her: -hometown:Bucharest -homeclub:CSS Triumpf Bucharest -birthdate: 8 August 1977 -If you look closely you can see Mariana in the Romanian Dream documentary -she competed at the mixed pair competition with fellow romanian Adrian Sandu -She was a great gymnast who never had the chance to shine.Her trainer had a fight with Octavian Belu, so she wasnt allowed to go to Deva.

[@SuzQ2]

my gosh - 6:04. Sometimes its tough to tell who the gymnast is that's performing in these videos, but you can spot Nastia Liukin's beautiful lines from a mile away!

[@elventaurus]

Awesome montage to an awesome song. I love Tori Amos, and Little Earthquakes is one of my favorite songs by her.

[@charmedcripchic]

This is awesome to see the evolution of this sport

[@comaneci1]

@koalapoofa it's kim gwang suk from north korea :) i recommend you to watch the newer montage, it's linked in the description it's much better :) thanks for watching

[@hankm77]

Who is doing the incredible mount onto the bars at 5:12? And by the way, great video, thanks

[@comaneci1]

@ViknAl watch the newer one, it's linked in tyhe description, and it includes khorkina

[@babyEroose]

5:12 is AWESOME. They'd have to ban flipping over the low bar to mount the high one. I know there were rules but, from the 50s-80s it seemed like anything goes as long as the put their hands up at the end to show they are ready to start & that they are finished

[@coley2319]

Awesome array of footage!

[@SeemsSane]

It's amazing to think what the routines will have in the next 20+ years. Still, there is something beautiful and unique to each evolution.

[@comaneci1]

you really understood why i didnt bring up khorkina...thanks for ur comment :D

[@reverienedde]

This gymnastics seems much more creative and artistic, while still being difficult

[@JLFAN2009]

What happened to the original soundtrack to this video? I remember it sounding very different.

[@account-ll8ou]

Can someone mention the uneven bars dimensions in the 70s? Espesialy Distance between bars

[@faeryquene]

I have to add that the Korbut and Mukhina's version were dazzling, crowd-pleasing skills-I wish those would still be allowed. And Nadia's Comaneci Front to Csazlavska combo is pretty awesome to this very day-she was truly far ahead of the rest at those Games.

[@b4rn35y]

great video! why was the olga korbut flip banned?

[@shuddersfield]

i totally agree! have a look on youtube at olga korbuts uneven bars routine from the olympics of 72 - NO ONE has ever performed such a difficult routie since, and so perfect!

[@Gobbete]

You may appreciate their strength and level of difficulty, but the name is "Artistic Gymnastics" and competition after competition, the artistic part is gradually vanishing. If something is artistic, it has to have beauty, creativity, personality. Regarding the swimming, they really have to be faster and stronger, but in synchronized swimming what matters is: beauty, charisma, personality, along with the technique.

[@comaneci1]

@ThePingShowJL well, no it revolves around both of the rythmic and the artistic one, i guess we have trampoline gymnastics too but it's not common at atll, and i don't think we have trampoline gymnastics..... though i guess maybe after that team silver medal at the youth olmpics in the rythmic gymnastics may be a good start...

[@neysadawnf]

I was a gymnast and I remember doing beats on the bar.... Man did u get some bruises on your hips!!! Gymnastics has come al long way! Though I truly enjoyed the early on bar routines so creative!

[@uncchristine99]

Wow... this is a great video.. what a way this event has come!

[@washaa]

Looking back, the 60s going from mono to hi-fi was a pretty significant development for uneven bars

[@heedles]

Seen at 2:20, it was originally performed by Olga Korbut in 1972 I think. They don't let gymnasts stand on the top bar anymore so it's a banned move :(

[@comaneci1]

no these movements are obsolete now, and the 2:20 one is also banned

[@rene833]

@nmd556 It's arguable which one is more difficult. The 50s were faced with unique challenges that don't exist in current gymnastics. And as the bars moved farther apart but were still parallel and were not a full body's length away, the challenges of spinning and tricks were even greater. So maybe the rules of the sport which make it about brute force and strength make it more difficult in competition now, but 'in the old days' when it was about art and perfection it was more difficult.

[@comaneci1]

@getnasty08 i belive it's a big mistake, but see, that montage was made like...3 years ago and i didn't have alot of videos for khorkina, that's why i'll be working on another one soon, much better, and in alot more better quality.... :) thanks for watching